User blog:Leolab/User Siege Tourney, Round 27 of 63: Leolab (Lloyd) v Swg66 (Cadwalader)
Lloyd Kumar: The mercenary Great Captain Attacking Cadwalader Owain Jones: The Welsh Great Captain Okay, folks. It's the battle you've all been waiting for, with an Austonio prologue to boot! Well, let's get started. Prologue End Act 1: Curiosty Start Act 2: Watched Cadwalader stalked through a hallway, trying to figure out how to navigate around their hosts’ watchful eyes. He’d just finished strategizing to Lloyd in the library, with the man’s wine. If anyone were able to cut that off in a siege, they would have a far easier time. Not easy, by any stretch, but easier. “Ooh, the patriot enters!” Cadwalader sighed. Austonio was the very last person he wanted to encounter. “What do you want?” “What I usually want. FIRE! But since I can’t have that, I’ll settle for being far from horses.” “Can’t you do that elsewhere?” “No more than you can be a patriot outside of Wales.” Cadwalader stopped dead in his tracks. “You have a very odd notion of patriotism. And where the hell are there horses in here?” “Horses are like really weird bees. They attack just when you think they’re not there. And shouldn’t a patriot be with their country rather than… hmm… here?” “You seem to forget I had little choice in coming here” “But you had all the choice in staying… weighing… neighing? Ohh, the horses are near!” And with that, Austonio ran off, cackling. Cadwalader watches him run off, bemused. For a madman, he really reads too much into things. He mused, But maybe that’s the point of being mad… As he turns into the hallway that leads to the dining hall, he hears hooves galloping down a hallway. Attacker Symbol = |-| General = *Weapons: **Long Range: Composite Recurve Bow with poisoned armor-piercing arrows **Polearm: Halberd (axe head opposite a slotted dismounting hook; shaft ends in a pike). **Main-hand: Talwar **Off-hand: short axe (2 ft handle) *Armor: Riveted Plated Mail Single Combat: Will issue challenges when losing or if confident of a win. Will not accept if enemy is nearly routed, but is likely to otherwise. |-| Army = Attacking Siege Weaponry: *All units are armored with riveted plated mail and a barbute *3 15 inch Cannons with standard iron ball shot. **3 people per canon; secondary is a short axe and a tower shield *1 Mining Team **20 people per team; secondary is a Falcata-style shortsword and a dagger. *1 Trebuchet launching clusters of rocks, jars of Greek Fire, and pieces of dead bodies **10 people on the Trebuchet, secondary is a Kilij and kite shield *3 Ladder Teams **15 people per team, secondary is a short axe and an Aspis shield *1 Battering Ram; wood log with metal tip. Has wooden siding to protect from arrows. Thin sheets of metal are put on the siding to resist fire. **16 people on the ram; secondary weapon is an Aspis shield and a short spear *1 Belfry; metal-plated wood **25 people pushing the Belfry, secondary for 12 is a Zweihander, secondary for 12 is a Khanda, secondary for 1 (leader) is a Kilij. *1 overall commander for siege weaponry wearing Riveted Plated Mail and a Barbute **Specialized weapon: European-style Bastard Sword and Buckler **Secondary Weapon: Kilij and Buckler Supply Lines: Organized into two sections: attacking the defender's supply lines and defending my own. There is one overall commander for both. Command in the field is given on a rotating basis based on seniority. *Attack defender's: **219 Heavy Cavalry wearing full plate armor with barbute ***Specialized Weapon: Kontos Spear ***Secondary Weapon: Tabarzin ***Horse armor: Plate **218 Light Cavalry wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) over plate bracers and greaves with barbute ***Specialized Weapon: Talwar ***Secondary Weapon: Composite Recurve Shortbow ***Horse Armor: Riveted Plated Mail *Defend my own: **218 Heavy Cavalry wearing full plate armor & Barbute ***Specialized Weapon: Kontos Spear ***Secondary Weapon: Tabarzin ***Horse armor: Plate **219 Light Cavalry wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) under plate bracers and greaves & barbute ***Specialized Weapon: Talwar ***Secondary Weapon: Composite Recurve Shortbow ***Horse Armor: Riveted Plated Mail *Commander: **Full plate armor ***Specialized Weapon: Poleaxe ***Secondary Weapon: Mace ***Horse armor: Plate Crossbowmen: *Organized into divisions of 500 men, further divided into squads with 10 crossbowmen and 10 loaders. All members are capable crossbowmen and can fill in if others are hurt. *500 Crossbowmen wearing Riveted plated mail & Barbute: **Specialized Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow **Secondary Weapon: Axe and Buckler *500 Loaders wearing Riveted plated mail & Barbute: **Specialized Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow **Secondary Weapon: Axe and Buckler *25 Squad Commanders wearing Laminar Armor & Barbute: **Specialized Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow **Secondary Weapon: Spatha and Buckler *2 Division Commanders wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) over Riveted Chainmail & Barbute: **Specialized Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow **Secondary Weapon: Dual 45-cm Khanda-style shortswords *1 Crossbow Commander wearing Riveted Plated Chainmail: **Specialized Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow **Secondary Weapon: Khanjar and Buckler Shock Troops *Organized into divisions of 500 men, further divided into squads with 20 men each. *2000 Shock Troops wearing full plate armor & Armet **Specialized weapon: Poleaxe (axe-head, pike point, dismounting hook) **Secondary weapon: Dual short warhammers (hammer, hook) *100 Squad Leaders wearing full plate over chainmail and an Armet **Specialized Weapon: Leucerne Hammer (hammer, pike point, hook) **Secondary weapon: Dual short axes (axehead, hook) *4 Division Leaders wearing Laminar and an Armet **Specialized Weapon: Short Spear and Aspis **Secondary Weapon: Shortsword and Aspis *1 Overall Leader wearing plate armor over Riveted plated chainmail with a Bascinet (he's a big guy) **Special: Leucerne Hammer (hammer, pike point, hook) **Secondary: warhammer and plated, spiked targe. Infantry *Organized into brigades of 2500 men, then into divisions of 500, then squads of 20. *5000 Infantrymen wearing riveted plated mail & Barbute **Specialized weapon: short spear & buckler **Secondary Weapon: axe and buckler *250 squad leaders wearing laminar over leather & Barbute **Specialized weapon: short Axe and spiked, plated Targe **Secondary weapon: Swordbreaker and spiked, plated targe *10 division leaders wearing lamellar over chainmail **Specialized weapon: Swordbreaker and buckler **Secondary Weapon: Broadsword and Buckler *2 brigade leaders wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) over leather & Barbute **Specialized Weapon: Broadsword and Dagger **Secondary Weapon: Kopis and Dagger *1 overall leader wearing a metal breastplate over plated chainmail and Barbute **Specialized weapon: Kopis & plated targe **Secondary weapon: short spear & plated targe Reserve *Organized into squads of 20 men each *60 Reserve Members wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) & Barbute **Specialized weapon: Kilij and Buckler **Secondary Weapon: Swordbreaker and buckler *3 squad leaders wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) & Bascinet **Specialized weapon: Swordbreaker & Buckler **Secondary weapon: Axe and Buckler *1 Leader wearing Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) with Burgonet Support *536 people producing necessary materials for siege engines **Secondary weapon: Pata and buckler *2 High Marshals wearing Brigandine over Chihal'Ta Hazar Masha (Coat of 10,000 Nails) w/ halfhelm **Specialized weapon: dual Pata-style shortswords **Secondary Weapon: Dual Katars *10 General's Guard wearing full plate over leather w/ close helm **Specialized weapon: Longsword and Kite Shield **Secondary Weapon: Pata and Kite Shield *1 General's Guard Captain wearing full plate over leather w/ Kachi kabuto **Specialized weapon: Longsword and Tower Shield **Secondary Weapon: Pata and tower Shield Strategy *Intercept enemy supply lines & protect own *Harass defenders on walls with crossbowmen *Launch any enemy dead or post-interrogation POWs over in trebuchets *When dead or living are unavaliable, launch Greek Fire in and bombard walls with canon and trebuchet fire while trying to batter down doors or get ladders & belfry in, though the belfry is often used as a decoy. *Shock Troops are used in critical junctures, but are also used as diversions. *Infantry is used after entrance is made in walls, via ladders, or by the belfry. *General's Guard protects the general, High Marshals are given command during large periods of activity. *Leads from a few ranks behind the front. *Reserve is put in where needed. *Focused solely on capturing. Doesn't care if all enemy fighters are killed or none are. *Stringent anti-infiltration measures *All orders are written in code. Redundant messengers are used to ensure order reaches the officers. Defender Symbol = |-| General = Weapons: Long Range: English long bow with varity bodkin and broad head tips, with cloth soaked in posion wrapped near arrow head Polearm: Poleaxe. Axe-head with hammer head oppisite the axe head, with large spike Main-hand: English Long sword, with small parrying sheild attached to wrist Off-hand: Engligh War hammer, hammer head, Spike and puncuturing Bill, another small parrying sheild on his wrist. Armor: Articulated Plate Steel plate, with Rivited 8-in-2 Kings Mail, Corinthian style steel helmet Single Combat: Will issue challenges when losing or if confident of a win. Will not accept if enemy is nearly routed, but is likely to otherwise. |-| Army = Defense Seige Counter Measures All wearing Plated Rivited mail and Steel Skull cap 12 14in Canons placed on walls,firing a combination of iron ball shot and grapes shot. :Each Cannon is manned by 4 men, Main weapon short Falcata sword and Tower sheild. Secondary weapon War Hammer Units. 2000 Long Bow man, using combination Bodkin and broadhead. Have flaming arrows as well as posion tips. 2000 Heavy Infantry. Serve as Formation fights, all highly trained and hard to move Armour. Full Articulated Plate with rivited mail worn underneath Main Weapon: Hoplon Sheild and Long Spear Secondary Weapon: Falcata short sword 1200 Pike men. Armour: Rivited Mail Hauberk, Steel Cuirass Main Weapon: Long Pike Secondary: Short sword buckler 1000 Cross bowmen, with Armor pierceing Bodkin head, accompanied by 1000 loaders Armor:Plated Mai Hauberk and Burgonet helmet Main Weapon: Arbalest Crossbow Secondary: Warhammer and Buckler. Support 252 men as support, making the ball shot, arrows, will also resully archers in battle with bolts and arrows. Can fight if need be. Also function as Sappers. Armor: Mail Hauberk when working in battle feild, steel helmet Main Weapon: Targe sheild and Hand axe Secondary: Dirk Dagger X-Factors These X-Factors are created by taking averages from the X-Factor evaluation blog, rounded to the nearest number. I did not choose them. There is no bias. Victory Conditions Attacker= *Overrun castle *Force defender to surrender *Win Single Combat |-| Defender= *Force attacker to surrender *Annihilate attacker *Survive for 4 months *Win Single Combat |-|Tie= *One side meets the victory conditions but loses their general *Both sides lose their general. Notes Battle = *Any siege weapons without a crew cannot be used *Area is as follows: **A square, stone fort with a tower at each corner and one in the center. It is on a hill, but has no other natural barriers. Castle is 100 m x 100 m x 125 m. Towers have a 10 m radius and are 150 m tall. The fighting is mostly close-quarters in small areas within the castle. |-|Voting = In order for a vote to count as full, it must contain an analysis of the victory or tie conditions and which - if any - the armies can meet. A paragraph or two with at least 10 relevant sentences can be substituted for a full vote. A paragraph or two with 5 relevant sentences will count as a half vote. All others will not count. |-| General's Kit = *Includes: **A telescope / looking glass for his personal use and others for the commanders **Several maps of the area **Locations of friendly supply lines **Various support personnel: a quartermaster corps, cooking corps, medical corps, and religious services Battle 0 Months, 0 Days, 18 Hours. “Damn, damn, damn!” Lloyd is surveying the fort he will be besieging. His spyglass reveals Welsh flags. “There’s only one Welshman good enough to justify what they’re paying me,” he mutters, “and that’s Cadwalader. Bloody fucking hell. I hate going against other great captains. Especially one I’m friends with.” He sighs. And Cadwalader’s fucking brilliant, too. He knows me, and I know him. We have the same advantages. Damnit! This is going to be difficult. Lloyd walks over to the quartermaster’s tent. He’d need some wine for this one. Cadwalader walks up on the battlements, intending to survey his enemy’s ranks. His officers had told him the enemy camp was disorganized; if what he said was true, he’s going to have a nice, easy siege. Smiling in anticipation, he raised his spyglass, looking at the camp before him. As he surveyed it, the smile slowly slid from his face. “Oh shit.” “Sir? Their camp is heavily disorganized. It looks like an easy win for you.” “Oh, it’s organized alright. It just seems disorganized. There’s only one person I know who sets up camp like this. Well, there are several who try, but only Lloyd really pulls it off. And if we’re against Lloyd Kumar, well, this is going to be tricky.” He turns and heads hack to his quarters. “Lloyd’s tactical specialties are deception and adaptability. Intelligence is key, here. What we see isn’t always his actual plan, but he likes having his distractions be viable methods of assault or defense. Now, I have some planning to do. Knock if you need me.” 1 Month, 15 Days, 17 Hours. Lloyd looked down at the ciphered communication and sighed in relief. To most people, it would look like simple gibberish; after all, “Wuraf efjjiw ezuru ugn yl ury ruxon umag us” has no meaning in and of itself. However, he had developed the cipher used, and he’s been using it long enough to read it without a decoder. It said simply, “We have taken one of the enemy supply lines”. Well, halving their supply train would make this a little more manageable. He looked up as three of his commanders walked in, trailed by one of his High Marshalls. Pouring some wine for all of them, he sits back down and gets to business. “Greetings to all of you. Crossbow Commander Errol, Siege Commander Dante, and Infantry Commander Kal, you are all under High Marshall Mateus. We have one of the enemy supply lines, and are working on another. Dante, continue the operation I mentioned to you earlier; High Marshall Mateus has been informed of it. Now, here’s what I’m planning…” Cadwalader was planning in his quarters, surrounded by stacks of contingency plans. He was interrupted by a knock at his door. “Come on in.” One of his men walked in, looking worried. “The supply line that was supposed to arrive today didn’t.” “And are they delayed or were they rerouted?” “We have evidence to the latter, sir. It looks like the enemy has captured our supply line and is redirecting the flow to his camp.” Cadwalader nods and leafs through the stack on his left, and pulls out three sheets. “Well, here are your orders.” “Will do, sir.” “And I don’t need any wood for the fire tonight. I have several stacks of useless plans.” 2 Months, 27 Days, 20 Hours. Lloyd walks though his camp, throwing and catching an apple. He’d received another communication the night before – confirmation that the second enemy supply line had been captured. He surveys the areas of cover his men are building and waves over one of his High Marshalls. “Mateus! How’s our little strategy working out?” “It’s going well, sir. The enemy doesn’t seem to expect a thing, and even the men don’t know what to expect.” “Excellent. By when do you think we can implement the final phase?” “Everything should be in place within a month, sir.” Lloyd grins. This is going to be a battle for his book, when he gets around to writing it. Cadwalader is sitting in his quarters, trying to determine Lloyd’s strategy. He’s spread a map of the area on the stone table, and has put markings of where his foe’s troops are. He is still trying to figure out his foe’s plan when one of his soldiers enters. “Sir! The enemy has captured our second supply line.” “Goddamnit. Do you see the stack of paper on your left?” “Which one?” “The one closest to you. Hand me the top third of that stack.” Cadwalader starts looking through the planning he’d done for this situation, trying to determine how to best salvage it. “Oh, and the rest of the pages are trash. Use them for fire, toilet paper, or even flaming toilet paper if you’re so inclined. Just use them somehow. 3 Months, 31 Days, 10 Hours. Lloyd is sitting in his tent, going over his plans for today, using his glass of wine as a paperweight. Today will either be the payoff of the past several months or the proof of their futility. He looks up to see his High Marshalls enter. “Well, it’s time. I’ve given you your orders already. Now it’s time for you to carry them out. Mateus, Tycho, I’d rather not fail here. Assaulting Cadwalader’s going to be tough, but I think we can do it.” He passes each the copies of the plans he’s made. “Here’s the final details. Once a prong finds its mark, let me know. I’ll be here, writing.” “I thought you preferred commanding on the field, sir” “Only when I can actually affect the outcome. Now, it’s up to you and the men.” Lloyd throws the pair a salute, which they return. As they walk out, he picks up the loosely bound sheets he’s writing on to make his book. Scanning through, he picks up a steel-tipped quill and continues from where he left off. An astute reader should have grasped that the key to being a general or a strategist is your mindset. I will set forth a few guidelines for how to think, though those that would lead must learn the actual mindset for themselves. Cadwalader walked up to the battlements with his longbow slung over his shoulder and a full quiver of arrows, hoping to try and get a good look at what Lloyd was planning to do. He raised his spyglass and scanned the camp, seeing very little to point to an obvious avenue of attack. He turned to go back to his quarters when one of his soldiers shouted behind him. Whirling back to face the field, he looks out and sees a belfry moving towards the walls. “Oh goddamn; he never uses that. Shit, I didn’t plan for this one.” The first is the ability to adapt. The clichéd phrase goes something like “A battle plan is good until the first arrow is fired.” If not, it’s some other way of saying “You need to adapt in the field” while trying to sound wise. This has been mentioned many times, by many authors, so there’s no need to elaborate. “Get the cannons up here! Quickly!” Cadwalader bellowed, “And get the Longbowmen up here!” He raised his own bow as he shouted, nocked an arrow, and let loose at the back of the siege tower. He wasn’t sure if he hit, but he kept firing until the cannons and some of his other longbowmen had arrived. “Cannons! Concentrate fire on the Belfry. Longbowmen! Try to hit the soldiers pushing it.” Surrounded by the deafening roar of the cannons and the far less audible snap of bowstrings, Cadwalader directed his men’s fire and fired volleys in the barrage aimed at the unfortunate siege tower. He signaled for the cannons to fall silent for a moment while his archers continued firing. Moving to a spot where the cannons wouldn’t cause him to go deaf, he signaled them to continue once his hearing returned. He soon heard a loud crack, and the belfry collapsed. Cadwlader breathed a sigh of relief. Then he heard one of his men shouting for the rest to find cover. Ducking down the stairs, he heard ceramic breaking and felt a rush of heat behind him. The second is the oft-claimed ability to deceive. It’s quite difficult to defend against an attack you don’t know is coming, as well as to capture a defense you didn’t know was there. This has also been touched upon by numerous other authors, so elaboration is useless once again. One thing to note – and a preferred strategy of mine – is that the best deceptions use a viable strategy as the false front. High Marshall Mateus watched as the belfry collapsed. It was nowhere near full, but there were still good men in there. He grimaced at the loss, but he also now had all of Cadwalader’s cannons in one place. Just as Lloyd had planned. “Treb, light ‘em up! I want to see the blaze from here! Cannons, keep their heads down. I don’t want to become a quiver just yet.” He watched as his men took revenge for their fallen comrades, clusters of jars raining Greek Fire down on his foes while cannonballs kept them pinned. '''The general’s a good guy, for a merc,' he thought, He’s prepared for most contingencies. Except for interacting with people outside of his tent. A runner came from the tunnels below. That end, at least, was a resounding success. Three footholds gained within the fort, and with the enemy none the wiser. He sent a messenger to Tycho and headed to inform Lloyd himself. Walking in to the general’s tent, he spots the man with his quill poised, about to write. “General! The belfry was taken down, but the mining teams managed to get through in all three places.” “I see,” Lloyd said. “Let’s get the men in as soon as we can. The enemy will be shaken from the loss of the cannons, and I’d rather not waste the opportunity the belfry has given us.” Lloyd salutes, and Mateus leaves the tent. Before putting on his armor, Lloyd drains his glass of wine writes one last sentence. The third is the ability to determine and use acceptable losses. Lloyd lashed out with his halberd at a Welsh soldier. His forces had successfully breached the castle, and the ensuing melee forced the defenders back into the mess hall. Using several broad sweeps of his halberd, Lloyd cleared a path in front of him. Looking to the side and behind to make sure his guard was still there. Motioning for them to follow, he waded through the sea of the dead, dying, and fighting to search for Cadwalader. Cadwalader swung his poleaxe in two short arcs, slicing into one foe and crushing the helmet of another. Several of Lloyd’s men were wearing what appeared to be a fabric coat, but after fighting them he realized that those coats had armor plates on the inside. He’d told all the men he came across, but they were still focusing on the seemingly-vulnerable enemies. Cadwalader made his way through the melee, trying to find Lloyd or the commanders under him. Lloyd makes his way up the stairs to the balcony overlooking the mess hall. He needs a vantage point to try and figure out what to do next. Looking out at the fight in front of him, he takes a quick swallow from his wine canteen and searches for an enemy leader to take out. He spots Cadwalader making his way through the crowd. Lloyd takes his bow out of the case on his back, strings it, and nocks one of his arrows. He draws it, aims, and fires. The arrow, thicker than most with a narrow point, punches through Cadwalader’s plate armor, but is stopped by the undercoat of mail. Lloyd nocks another arrow and fires as Cadwalader turns, this one hitting through the nose into the spine. He makes his way down with his Talwar and Axe – he couldn’t tell if he hit the right vertebra or not, and he’d rather not have a friend dying in pain. Reaching the body, he sees that his aim was true – he’d hit the top vertebra in the neck, which killed Cadwalader quickly. After taking a moment to pay his respects, he rallies his troops and crushes the opposition, demoralized by the loss of their leader. A brief flash of light returns both generals to the waiting room. End of Siege Statistics *Total Time: 3 Months, 31 Days, 23 Hours, 45 Minutes. *Casualties: 15,176 **Cadwalader: 6,176 **Lloyd: 9,000 Category:Blog posts